Blackstone Real Estate Acquires Village Hotels

Blackstone Real Estate (“Blackstone”) announced on June 26th that funds managed by Blackstone have completed the acquisition of Village Hotels, a hotel owner, operator and developer, from affiliates of KSL Capital Partners, a leading investor in travel and leisure businesses.

Village Hotels owns and operates 33 well-located assets in large regional cities and suburban areas across the UK. Representing 4,400 hotel keys, it operates as an “all under one roof” leisure destination, offering traditional full-service hotel stays, fitness clubs, food and beverage outlets, and co-working spaces. Thanks to its wide range of amenities, Village Hotels has built a broad and loyal customer base, catering to domestic business travellers, tourists, large groups and local visitors.

James Seppala, Head of Real Estate Europe at Blackstone, said, “We are delighted to add Village Hotels, a standout hospitality brand with a unique business model, to our real estate portfolio. We see great potential in lodging and leisure as a sector, especially where we can support strongly positioned businesses that deliver exceptional experiences to their customers. We look forward to partnering with Village Hotels’ seasoned management team and support them as it embarks on its next stage of growth.”

Gary Davis, CEO of Village Hotels, said, “With KSL’s support, we have developed a differentiated brand, offering lodging, food, meeting space and health and wellness, ‘everything under one roof’. Each hotel attracts over 4,000 local members to our health and wellness clubs, quite unique in the hotel world, with high-tech equipment, fitness class facilities and pools with steam room and sauna. A great facility for the business traveller where health and wellness plus work facilities make us best in class. With Blackstone we see great opportunities to expand the number of hotels in the UK and further enhance our existing facilities. An exciting time for us all.”

Jens Blomdahl, Principal at KSL Capital Partners, said, “We are pleased to have partnered with the Village Hotels team to build out a comprehensive hospitality offering and expand their high-quality portfolio — including the addition of more than 1,200rooms and 45,000 fitness members. We look forward to following Village Hotels’ continued success in this new chapter as part of the Blackstone portfolio.”

Blackstone is along-term believer in the UK leisure sector, driven by consumers’ focus on high-quality experiences and services. In 2021, Blackstone acquired Bourne Leisure, a premier UK holiday company and owner of Haven Holiday Parks, the largest caravan operator in the UK, and Warner Hotels, the only hotel chain to cater exclusively to adults in the UK. Since acquisition, the firm has invested over £550 million across both brands for site and entertainment upgrades and expansions, growing Bourne Leisure into one of the largest providers of holiday experiences and holiday homes in Britain.

Lazard acted as Blackstone’s lead financial advisor, Santander also acted as Blackstone’s financial advisor and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and DLA Piper served as Blackstone’s legal advisors. Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc acted as KSL’s financial advisor and Dentons served as KSL’s legal advisor.